Urban Jacksonville

I grabbed a few pics of the new JTA bus shelter being unveiled today. What are your thoughts? I’m reserving judgment for a bit. If you want to see them, get down to Bay and Main in Downtown Jacksonville. There’s also a media event this morning at 10am.

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• Unveiling of JTA’s first new downtown bus shelters
• Wednesday, July 28 at 10 a.m. JTA representatives will be onsite until 11
  a.m. to answer questions.
• Northeast corner of Bay and Main streets

In partnership with the Downtown Development Review Board, the new shelters were designed to reflect the character of the Downtown area and to support JTA’s green initiatives. Special features of the shelters include solar lighting, mesh walls for better air circulation, new trash receptacles, bike racks and maps of the entire JTA system.

The paint used on the shelters consists of low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which minimizes the negative effects paint can have on air quality. Some of the shelters also incorporate panels that can accommodate advertising.

This is the first of 24 new shelters to be installed downtown with 50 additional shelters coming online throughout the JTA service area.

Another phase of the Downtown shelter project will be the placement of 30 shelters for bus rapid transit along the BRT alignment in Downtown scheduled for completion in late 2012.

Revised RIverside trolley route pushes into Avondale, extends hours to weekends.

In the middle of yesterday’s push to build support for the Riverside Trolley once funding ends in September, I began hearing the trolley will be extended and not sent to the corner with our other tried transit ideas.

Metro Jacksonville is saying the trolley will now push into Avondale and service will be extended to weekends, they have an article scheduled to run tomorrow with all the updated information.

We still need to push for support so I encourage everyone to come out to the public meetings this Friday at JTA offices downtown to show love for our little fixed rail gateway drug, the Riverside Trolley.

I’ve set up a Facebook event to Get Jacksonville Back on Tracks which has all the details of Friday’s public meeting. If you can’t make it you can always show your love for the trolley online with a few choice comments.

Friday · 11:00am – 1:00pm
JTA Offices Downtown
100 N Myrtle Avenue
Jacksonville, FL

Friday July 23rd from 11am to 1pm the Jacksonville Transit Authority will host a public hearing to present proposed changes to the transit system (including Riverside Trolley) that go into effect September 6, 2010. Support for the proposed Riverside Trolley service is critical to its continued success.

This weekend I noticed the bronze statue of Andrew Jackson had moved from his previous home in front of The Landing to his new home, err in front of The Landing. He now sits about 1 block to the east, right in the middle of the new Laura Street roundabout. While it’s silly to “review” the placement of a statue, I do have some thoughts on it.

I think the move is an great idea and it will receive a lot of praise. Visually, it looks pretty impressive. I approached from West Water Street so I haven’t seen it approaching from Laura Street, but I plan on checking that view out on my ride to work this morning.

The new statue placement reminds me of being in a more urban, dense city and I Iike it. I’ve never been to Philadelphia, but I feel like it’s a statue placement you might see in that city or maybe Washington D.C.

I love the fact that the city moved it from a grassy knoll that was set off the street, a very suburban minded placement, to be featured in the middle of the street. You get a sense of arriving at a place of note.

Driving in the roundabout

It took just over 8 hours to dislodge the statue from it’s old pedestal. It might take you half that many hours just to make it around the statue. The cobblestones are so rough and bumpy, you really have to slow down once you’re in there.

This was no doubt a design feature and one I and many pedestrians will come to appreciate as traffic slows to less than 5 mph at the end of Laura Street, really increasing the walkability of the area.

I don’t see this causing traffic issues. The only issue I do see is Laura Street is only one way. The roundabout might lead some drivers to think they can exit the roundabout onto Laura Street into one way traffic. This is something that will be changing. But for now some signage should help with any confusion.

More about Roundabouts

A roundabout is a type of circular junction in which road traffic must travel in one direction around a central island. Signs usually direct traffic entering the circle to slow down and give the right of way to drivers already in the circle.

Statistically, roundabouts are safer for drivers and pedestrians than both traffic circles and traditional intersections.[4] Because low speeds are required for traffic entering roundabouts they are not designed for high-speed motorways (expressways).

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Special Guest – Maxwell Lee and Terrance Patterson (Ritz Chamber Players)
Show Sponsor – EU Jacksonville
Coffee Sponsor - Bold Bean Coffee Roasters

UJW LIVE – 5P Theatre
Wayne Wood
After the Bomb Baby!
Banksy’s Exit Through the Giftshop preview

Ritz Chamber Players
Maxwell Lee – Program Coordinator
Terrance Patterson – Artistic Director

Mission Statement

To foster the appreciation of chamber music through performances and educational outreach featuring preeminent African-American musicians and composers, with an emphasis on building audiences and arts inclusion that reflects our diverse society.

less than 2% Black participation in orchestras
international touring schedule
door-opener to exposing chamber music?
getting people into cultural arts
together for eight years (Feb 22, 2002)

Chamber Music
classical music written for 2-9 instrumentalists
began in Salons at home (intimate setting) in the 17-1800s

African diaspora, not just African-American
great introduction to classical music
harpist, winds – unconventional ensemble
content available on the website – www.ritzchamberplayers.org

Upcoming Performances
St. Augustine Music Festival – June 14
Juneteenth Celebration – June 19

affiliated with the Ritz Theatre
The players get the name around the country
performed at Lincoln Center, National Gallery
Secret Service couldn’t handle Terrance

video from Trinity Church on Wall Street on the website
YouTube Channel

Selection
by accomplishments
maintain a high standard
trailblazers within the industry

Sponsors
Blue Cross Blue Shield
CSX
Cultural Council
Weaver Family Foundation
Drummond Press

Recommendations

Joey – Refresh Jacksonville
Tony – RAM Report: DJ Dance Yoga Party, Jacksonville Beardsmith Society Beard and Mustache Contest
JB – 1) FCC throwdown 2)The Guardian iPad app for photography
Terrance – Back Alley Blend!!! (we dig it too!), try the cultural scene, Pillars of the Earth
Maxwell – WORLD CUP!
Jack -Shantytown for C&W, Suns Game, Surfer Blood

Hitler In Jacksonville from Solorio Bonaparte on Vimeo.

credit: amayzun on Flickr

The other night I Krung Fu (which was awesome by the way, you have to come next month) I was talking to my friend Chad about graffiti poppin up over town and could not remember this bad ass graffiti artist I follow on Flickr.

Well I found him, his name is bernie burns. Tracking him down inspired me to share some other favorites, so I put them together in a gallery. Local, freights and just plain rad comprise the set. So here is Freights and Graffiti!

Brain Drain in Jacksonville via the Grid Sketch blog

http://gridsketch.blogspot.com/2010/05/brain-drain-in-jacksonville.html
I found this new blog via a comment left on Urban Jacksonville and it’s a pretty solid sophomore article. He talks about Jacksonville’s brain drain or what economists refer to as creative human capital leaving a vacuum in the arts and sciences. Here are some highlights, but do read it for yourself, it’s thought provoking. Unfortunately I agree 100% with the article and have said as much in the past.

Richard Florida calls these talented people the creative class and like many other urban theorists believes that retaining them requires an understanding of place making. These places foster creative thinking not just paychecks and allow for interaction with other creative types. The office spaces are set up to encourage the spontaneous formations or groups within the company. These great places are adjacent to amenities that refresh their minds and spirits and allow for interactions with new people; places like coffee-shop/bookstores, pocket parks, pubs. When you get artist’s and engineers together you get iPods. A spontaneous meeting of lawyers and architects can yield new ideas for city zoning. But these meeting of creatives don’t happen on a solo commute home to the suburbs. It happens over a glass of beer in a pub or eating a sandwich during lunch in the Hemming Plaza.

The 904 from EnFocus Media on Vimeo.

Jacksonville, Florida- area code 904- has been the Sunshine State’s murder capital for the last 10 years. The homicide rate in Jacksonville has consistently topped other major metropolitan areas across Florida, including Miami, Orlando, and Tampa.

This past Thursday, the documentary The 904,” produced by First Coast Connect host and producer Melissa Ross had its debut screening at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Natalie Halpern from Jax Indie Film was there and interviewed Melissa Ross. Watch to Melissa describe the making of The 904 and the biggest lesson she learned.